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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Egyptian Revolution - part 2

Though the CNN cameras left in Feb. declaring that the people of Egypt had won a great victory, they were now free and democratic; the truth is that nothing has changed in Egypt. The military Junta is still in power, the people are still as poor as ever and freedom and democracy are nowhere in sight just like the CNN cameras. I believe there will be a deadly crackdown by the military which will require NATO to go in and liberate the poor suppressed Egyptians like they did with the Libyans. And then it will be on to Syria and Iran and Pakistan and....can we say World War?

CAIRO — A demonstration that brought tens of thousands to this city’s central Tahrir Square turned violent on Friday, when thousands of people — led by a heavy contingent of soccer fans — tore down a protective wall around the Israeli Embassy, while others defaced the headquarters of the Egyptian Interior Ministry.

Khaled Elfiqi/European Pressphoto Agency

Egyptian protesters dismantled a concrete wall which was in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

The Egyptian state news agency said 448 people were injured and 17 protesters were arrested in the clashes, mostly around the Israeli embassy. Protesters scaled the walls of the Israeli Embassy to tear down its flag, broke into offices and tossed binders of documents into the streets.

Mustafa el Sayed, 28, said he had been among about 20 protesters who broke into the embassy. He showed a reporter video from a cellphone, of protesters rummaging through papers and ransacking an office, and he said they had briefly beaten up an Israeli employee they found inside, before Egyptian soldiers stopped them. The soldiers removed the protesters from the building, he said, but let them go free.

By 11:30 p.m., about 50 trucks had arrived with Egyptian riot police officers, who filled the surrounding streets with tear gas. Witnesses said that protesters had set a kiosk on fire in front of a security building near the embassy, and that the police had fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd from both buildings. But at 3 a.m. Saturday, thousands of protesters were still battling thousands of riot police officers. Demonstrators threw rocks and gasoline bombs at the officers, sometimes forcing them to retreat, and the police fired back with tear gas. To celebrate an advance, protesters set off the flares that they typically use to cheer at soccer matches.